Factors affecting site response to multi-directional earthquake loading

This paper presents an investigation into various factors that may affect the ground response to multi-directional earthquake loading, focusing mainly on the behavior of vertical ground motion and its relation with the horizontal counterpart. The factors investigated herein include the intensity of input motion and the associated soil nonlinearity, the location of input motion (rock outcrop versus bedrock), the variation of water table, and the damping property of soil. Influence of these factors is studied on the characteristics of site amplification in both vertical and horizontal directions, the response spectra of vertical and horizontal ground surface motions, the spectral ratio between the two components (V/H) at the ground surface, and the distributions of stresses and strains in the ground. One of the main results is that varying water table can bring about a significant impact on vertical motion and the relationship between vertical and horizontal motions. The surface response spectral ratio (V/H) can largely exceed the rule-of-thumb value of 2/3 at low periods with lowering the water table, but does not appear to be substantially affected at long periods.     

Converted phases analysis of the Campi Flegrei caldera using active seismic data

We applied a type of depth migration for converted seismic phases to active and passive seismic data sets from the Campi Flegrei volcanic region in southern Italy. The migration method is based on the diffraction summation migration technique. Travel times to grid points in a volume were calculated in smooth P and S-velocity models and trace energy near the calculated converted phase time was stacked over multiple sources at one receiver. Weighting factors based on Snell's Law at an arbitrarily oriented local interface were applied to better focus trace energy. PP reflection images from the active data set provide increased detail to images of the caldera rim from other studies. The migrated images also show features near 2–3 km in depth beneath Pozzuoli City, which may be associated with an over-pressured gas volume, as suggested by other geophysical investigations. Possible deeper features near 4 km depth may be related to the presence of the carbonate basement or may image a previously undetected feature, such as a small body of strongly thermometamorphosed volcanic rock. The current passive earthquake data set from the 1984 ground uplift episode was not well suited to the converted phases analysis due to narrow P–S windows and high noise levels in the traces. However, two stations provide confirmation and extension of imaged features in the active data.     

Swarm intelligence-based solver for parameter estimation of laboratory through-diffusion transport of contaminants

Theoretical approaches are of fundamental importance to predict the potential impact of waste disposal facilities on ground water contamination. Appropriate design parameters are generally estimated by fitting theoretical models to data gathered from field monitoring or laboratory experiments. Transient through-diffusion tests are generally conducted in the laboratory to estimate the mass transport parameters of the proposed barrier material. These parameters are usually estimated either by approximate eye-fitting calibration or by combining the solution of the direct problem with any available gradient-based techniques. In this work, an automated, gradient-free solver is developed to estimate the mass transport parameters of a transient through-diffusion model. The proposed inverse model uses a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm that is based on the social behavior of animals searching for food sources. The finite difference numerical solution of the forward model is integrated with the PSO algorithm to solve the inverse problem of parameter estimation. The working principle of the new solver is demonstrated and mass transport parameters are estimated from laboratory through-diffusion experimental data. An inverse model based on the standard gradient-based technique is formulated to compare with the proposed solver. A detailed comparative study is carried out between conventional methods and the proposed solver. The present automated technique is found to be very efficient and robust. The mass transport parameters are obtained with great precision.     

Numerical modelling of soil nails in loose fill slope under surcharge loading

A plane–strain numerical model has been developed to mimic a nailed loose fill slope under surcharge loading. The model has been used to back-analyse a field test that was conducted to examine the behaviour of soil nails in loose fill slopes under surcharge loading. Incremental elasto-plastic analyses coupled with pore water diffusion have been performed to study the internal deformation, water content redistribution in the soil, and the performance of the soil nails during and after the application of surcharge loading. The model parameters describing the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the nailed slope were obtained from field or laboratory tests. Different modelling techniques and boundary conditions for mimicking soil–nail interaction in loose fill material have been examined. Comparisons between numerical predictions and field measurements demonstrate that a new interfacial model, denoted as the embedded bond–slip interface model, is more suitable for mimicking the interfacial behaviour. Despite the simplicity of the numerical model, the predicted responses are in close agreement with the field test results, in particular the mobilisation and distribution of nail forces in response to surcharge loading. Both the numerical and the field test results suggest that soil nails are capable of increasing the overall stability of a loose fill slope for the loading conditions considered in this study. The increase in confining stress along the soil nails near the surcharge area is central to the overall stabilising mechanism. On the contrary, the nail forces mobilised near the nail heads are much smaller, indicating that the beneficial effect of having a structural grillage system at the slope face is limited for the range of surcharge pressures considered in this study.     

Correlations of natural radionuclides in sediment from Danube

The correlation between specific activities of some natural radionuclides (²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K) measured in sediment taken from river bottom was studied. The sediment was taken from the Serbian part of the Danube River. Good correlation between some of the isotopes is observed, so that their specific activity ratios are spread over a lower range than specific activities themselves. This suggests that evaluation of specific activity ratios of some natural radionuclides could be a more sensitive method for the determination of increased levels of some of them than the straightforward analysis of specific activities.     

A test method for analyzing the deformation of landslide model

In order to study the overall deformation of geotechnical model conveniently, the worksite of landslide bridge foundation reinforced by the front and rear row anti-slide piles in Chenglan railway was taken as an example. On the basis of shaking tabe test of a 1/40 reduced scale model, the landslide deformation caused by vibration waves was monitored through burying self-made phosphor bronze strips in soil. Combined with the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the bending strain points on the phosphor bronze strips, the digital matrix was converted by applying Renka Cline random matrix generation method, and the two-dimensional contour plots were drawn based on it. The results showed that the two-dimensional contour plots reflected the basic law of landslide deformation reasonably, and it revealed the evolution process of landslide deformation and failure. The research conclusions were consistent with the test phenomenon, which met the basic requirements of overall deformation analysis of landslide model. This proposed method can monitor multiple cross sections and was practical for model test.     

降水对荒漠土壤水热性质强迫研究

利用“我国西北干旱区陆气相互作用试验”在甘肃省敦煌的观测资料,分析了不同大小的降水对土壤湿度、反照率以及地表温度的影响;随着降水量的增大,各地表物理量恢复到原先的状态也越慢;强降水时,5cm土壤湿度的驰豫期为7天．中降水为4天,微量降水为2天。由于降水性质(水和雪)和土壤状态的差异,冬季和夏季相比．降水对地表物理量的影响差不多,但冬季地表物理量的恢复时间要比夏季长得多。土壤湿度和反照率的驰豫期与降水有很好的相关。     

土钉支护现场测试及三维数值模拟分析

在进行土钉轴力和边坡位移测试的基础上 ,进行了土钉支护的三维数值模拟研究 ,对边坡位移、土钉轴力、塑性区分布等分别作了较为深入的探讨 ,认识到土钉与土体相互作用形成了一个完整的支护体系 ;基坑失稳破坏并非传统意义上的土体和土钉的破坏 ,而是土钉支护体系的整体性破坏 ;土钉支护体系的形成正是通过土钉的分担作用、应力传递与扩散作用来实现的 ,这是土钉支护作用的实质.     

ICP-AES双向测定土壤中铜、锰、钒、锌金属元素的对比研究

本文采用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法(ICP-AES)轴向和径向测定土壤中铜、锰、钒、锌四种金属元素的含量,比较分析了在不同三酸[硝酸(HNO3)、氢氟酸(HF)、高氯酸(HCLO4)]用量(配比)下对5种国家标准物质的消解性差异和对四种元素轴向和径向测定结果的影响。结果表明:(1)消解过程中f、g、h配比的三酸消解速度较快,d、e次之,a、b、c相对较慢。(2)对于低含量试样径向观测对轴向观测灵敏度较高;同时三酸消解用量不同,其结果差异性不明显,而发现中高含量范围内横向观测比径向观测相对偏差较小,说明了轴向观测效果较好。(3)通过采用f配比的三酸经过前处理进行稳定性分析,结果可知标准偏差(SD)均小于10,相对标准偏差(RSD)均小于5%,对于高含量锰元素横向观测较径向观测稳定性高,其余元素差异性不明显。     

Sources of pollution and distribution of Pb,Cd and Hg in Wrocław soils: Insight from chemical and Pb isotope composition

Human activities in cities affect properties of urban soils. In particular, urban soils often contain high contents of harmful metals even in deeper horizons added to them from diverse sources over centuries of the city development. This is reflected in complex distribution of metals in bulk soils with depth and the complex metal fractionation, but the exact sources of the metals are difficult to identify. This is also the situation in soils from Wroclaw, one of the largest cities in Poland. Potentially harmful elements Pb, Cd and Hg were examined in six profiles located along the major communication route and compared to two non-urban soils profiles located close to the same route. In all of the urban profiles, Pb and Cd exceeded the element contents observed in non-urban profiles and showed an erratic distribution compared to the more predictable one in non-urban soils. The differences between urban and non-urban profiles were explained as the result of contamination coming from more pollution sources in the case of urban soils, the conclusion supported by Pb isotope analyses. In fact, Pb isotopes showed that the contamination sources in urban soils included leaded petrol, coal combustion, smelting and possibly old pre-industrial ore processing, whereas leaded petrol and pre-industrial lead were the only possible anthropogenic sources in non-urban soils. The comparison of Wrocöaw soils with those from cities of comparable size Kraków and Poznań show similar ranges of metal contents with implication that urban pollution oversteps diverse geogenic chemical background. On the other hand, the comparison with other European cities show large variability in metal contents and suggest that urban soils contamination is time integrated and reflects long-term industrial evolution of each country.